Sometimes older equipment can force you to think outside the box too. I probably would never have considered this idea if I hadn't already pushed the ISO higher than I would like on the 40D at ISO 1250.

This shot is blowing my mind. Was there much post processing work involved to make the beam of light stand out like that?

Thanks! I'm not religious, but being in Rome, in that church, with a Michelangelo statue of Christ behind me & that light coming through... was mind blowing to me too!

Not too much was done in post. I shot RAW, pushed the shadows to bring out more info in the church, applied some mid-tone contrast to bring out the texture, and added a bit of dodging & burning "to taste" (pushed beam a bit & reduced light hitting ceiling to bring attention down).

In light of all the doom-and-gloom regarding the POS known as the 5DIII, let's try to lighten the mood, shall we ? Since some people seem convinced that it's impossible to create art with only 11.7 stops of DR, and the 5DIII's pathetic hardware specs are limiting their creative execution, I propose posting your best images captured with less-than-stellar gear. It can really be anything, whether it's a point-and-shoot, xxD, Rebel, or just something that used to be a fine tool, but is too old to capture great images anymore (ie 1DII, 1DsII). As we all know, cameras that used to be cutting edge suddenly stop taking great images once a newer model comes out. Images from current crop bodies are very welcome, since everyone knows you can't take a decent image with a crop

Thanks for posting this thread -- one thing about rumors forums is that people tend to get a bit obsessive about the latest technical upgrades. Some of my favorite family pictures were taken with a Rebel XS and the 50mm f/1.4.

Here's one with some really cheap gear that I liked. Powershot A60, using the timer (not exactly the best camera for "low light"). The flash on this thing was useless, so I needed to carefully place sources of continuous lighting to get the picture lit the way I wanted it. This was taken before I knew anything about photography, the composition could be better but was really focusing on getting the face lit the way I wanted it.